HTC eyes bigger pie

Calcutta, May 8: Taiwanese handset maker HTC has set a target to garner a 15 per cent share in the Indian smartphone market within two years from 4-6 per cent at present.

“Our aspiration is to get to the 15 per cent market share in the next 24 months. We are a product company. We are investing in launching the right products for the Indian consumer,” HTC country head Faisal Siddiqui said.

“For the first time, we launched a phone in the sub-Rs 10,000 category, built and designed for India. We did the global launch of this product from India in New Delhi,” he added.

The handset maker plans to launch devices at competitive prices.

It is also growing its distribution network. HTC now has 3,500 outlets against 2,000 two years back. The company plans to have a total of 8,000 outlets within 4-6 months.

The company is also investing in service infrastructure.

“India is the third largest smartphone market. For HTC, it is one of our top five markets. Year-on-year, the Indian smartphone market is growing 80 per cent. Last year, around 27 million smartphones were sold in India overall. This year, around 40-44 million smartphones are to be sold in India. Next year, more than 60 million may sell,” Siddiqui said.

“The growth opportunity is huge as smartphones are still less than 10 per cent of all phones sold in India. It is replacing the feature phones.”

HTC sells 12 devices in India and has unveiled the HTC One (M8), the HTC Desire 210 and the HTC Desire 816.